Body bulge receiving cup and method of making same



A. H. RINEHART Sept. 10, 1963 BODY BULGE RECEIVING CUP AND METHOD OFMAKING SAME Filed June 7, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 l.. L 0 o o o o oIll-n11 4/ 5 vIAI.

ATTORNEY Sept. 10, 1963 A. H. RINEHART 3,103,111

BODY BULGE RECEIVING CUP AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed June '7, 1962 5Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. ARTHUR hf IW/VH/ABT BODY BULGE RECEIVING CUPAND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed June 7, 1962 Sept. 10, 1963 A. H.RINEHART 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR ARTHUR H. RINEHART 46% United StatesPatent 3,103,111 BQDY BULGE RECEIVING CUP AND METHQD 0F MAKLNG SAMEArthur H. Rinehart, Glen Rock, Ni, assignor to Hawthorne Knitting Mills,inc, Hawthorne, NJ. Filed June 7, 1962, st. No. 290,730 4 Claims. (Cl.66-l7o) This invention relates to a jersey knit ladies swim suit, orother garment, having integrally knit pockets, or cups, for receivingbody bulges, such as the breasts and buttocks.

One object of this invention is to produce an improved swim suit, orother garment, of the type set forth.

Crawford Patent No. 2,977,783 disclosed :a swim suit having integrallyknit breast receiving cups, each of which is formed by transferringstitches inwardly from the selvedge, and by transferring stitchesoutwardly from the center of the front panel of the suit in the areaabove the horizontal center line of the breast, or cup, and bytransferring stitches outwardly toward the selvedge only in the areabelow the horizontal center line of the breast or cup.

A breast cup s0 produced is a great improvement over a Hat knit frontpanel which is bulged out by the pressure exerted by the breasts, butsuch a cup will be asymmetrical with reference to its horizontal and itsvertical axes. This eans that the cup is not fashioned over its entirearea and will distort or will be distorted by the breast enclosedthereby.

It is therefore a further object of the invention to produce a breast,or buttock receiving cup which is symmetrical about its coo-r irate axesand to produce an improved method of knitting such cup so as to providebetter support for the bulge with less strain on the bulge and on thecup and to improve the appearance of the figure of the person wearingthe garment.

The full nature of the invention will he understood from the followingspecification and the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a highly diagrammatic view showing the order and directions inwhich stitches are transferred to produce a fully symmetrical body bulgereceiving cup embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic front elevational view showing the generalappearance of the cup produced by transferring stitches as shown in PEG.1, it being noted that the appearance of the wales is only approximateand not to scale.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic sectional view looking in the direction of line3-6 on FiGURE 2.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of the conventional fashioningfingers used in fashioning garments generally and used in carrying outthe invention.

The attached model was actually produced by operating two of thefashioning fingers of FIG. 4 to transfer in the order and in thedirections shown in FIG. 1 and is to be considered as part of thedisclosure, the same as the drawrngs.

Since the operation of full fashioned, or flat bed knitting machines,including the processes of widening and narrowing, are old and wellknown, they are not shown nor described. It is sufficient for thepurpose of this disclosure to say that the invention can be carried outon a Cotton knitting machine of the type disclosed in Patent 1,978,454;that the fashioning fingers are conventional and are provided withOotton points and that the needle bar is also conventional and inprovided with Cotton type needles N. Likewise, since the manner in whichthe fashioning fingers are activated by the coaction of buttons on thepattern chain and by cams on the cam drum, is also well known, it is notshown nor described. For further in- "Ice 2% formation, reference may hehad to the Crawford patent above-mentioned and to other patentsavailable in the United States Patent Oifice and well known to thoseskilled in the art.

In carrying out my invention, I use one pair of fashioning fingers, Band D, for fashioning the left, and another pair of fingers, C and E,for fashioning the right breast or buttock receiving cup. But, since thecups are formed in the identical manner, the process of fashioning onlyone cup, such as that formed by the coaction of fingers C and B, will bedescribed.

Each of fingers B, D, C and E has about three inches of points and, forconvenience, fingers D and C are mounted on round lace bars whereby theymay be rotated out of the way when not needed, as, for example, whenfingers B and E are operating at the selvedg-es.

For the purpose of this disclosure, it is assumed that the portion offabric below the bulge, such for example, as the lower portion of thefront panel of the swim suit, has already been knit in any desiredmanner and that line it! designates the point at which the formation ofthe breast, or buttock, cup is to begin. At this point, fingers C and Eare racked in until they are about one half inch apart, the spacebetween them being represented by lines 12 and 14 in FIGS. 1 and 2.Fingers C and E are then set in motion to transfer stitches outwardlyfrom lines 12 and 14 to lines 16 and 18, thus producing rows offashioning holes 2% and 2?. and rows of fashioning marks 24 and 26. Itwill be noted that fingers C and E are brought back to their originalposition after each shifting operation and, therefore, the row of holes2d, 22 and the rows of marks 24 and 26 and the wales which extendbetween lines ill and 28 should, in the absence of distortion, beparallel and vertical. The knitting thus far described produces lowercentral area M-9 and lower lateral areas M and M-1 which constitute thelower portion of the lower half of the cup. In practice, the tensionproduced by the transfers and the tension exerted by the surroundingfabric cause the wales in areas M and M-1 between lines it and 28 todiverge from the vertical center line as shown by the model and asdiagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 2. The number of courses betweenlines 10 and 28 and the courses in which shifting takes place may bevaried, as desired. in practice, I have produced a satisfactory, averagesize and average shape breast-receiving cup by knitting 20 coursesbetween lines 10 and 23 and I have transferred stitches in every second.course. Obviously, for a smaller breast, the number of courses will bereduced and, for a larger bulge, such as a buttock, the number ofcourses will be increased.

Above line 28, stitches are transferred outwardly of the vertical centerline of the cup, but the fingers are not returned to their originalposiitons after each transfer. This produces diverging rows offashioning holes 30 and 32 and correspondingly diverging rows offashioning points 34 and 36. This widens the cup by two stitches aftertransfer. Again, the number of transfer operations and the order ofcourses in which the outward shifting takes place can be varied, but, inthe attached finished cup above referred to, I shifted fifteen times andlimited the shifting to every fifth course. It will be noted that, inareas M-2 and M4? between lines 28 and 38, the wales diverge outwardlyfrom the center line of the cup. The knitting immediately abovedescribed produces an upper portion of the lower half of the cup which,in addition to areas M-2 and M3, also produces diverging wales in areasM-ltl on either side of intermediate area M9.

Between lines 38 and 40, I knit a number of plain courses to produce ahorizontal band or area M-4 which extends along the horizontal centerline of the fabric. Again, the number of plain courses can be varied,but in the example given, I found that twelve plain courses E produce asatisfactory, average breast-receiving cup. Area M-4 constitutes thecentral, or dividing portion of the cup.

Above line 40, the process is reversed in that fingers C and E areoperated to shift toward the vertical center line of the breast to formconverging rows of fashioning holes 42 and 4-4, and correspondinglyconverging rows of fashioning points 46 and 48, the same as betweenlines 23 and 38. It will be noted that the wales in areas M-5 and M-6,between lines 40 and 5t), converge toward the vertical center line. Thisforms a V and an inverted V, the bases of which are separated by plaincourse band M. It will also be noted that the limbs of the V andinverted V are prevented from intersecting by vertical, parallel, plainknit wales in area M-d on either side of central wales M-9. The knittingbetween lines 4% and 5t) produces areas M-5 and M-6 and areas M-1l oneither side of central wales M9 which constitute the intermediateportion of the upper half of the cup.

Above line 50, the fingers are returned to their origposition after eachshifting to produce parallel rows of fashioning holes 52 and 54 and rowsof fashioning marks 56 and 58 to produce areas M7 and M-8 which aremirror images of their counterparts below line 28. The knitting betweenlines 50 and 6% produces the upper portion of the upper half of the cupwhich comprises areas M-7 and M-8 and the continuation of area M-9.Above line 66, the plain knitting is resumed until the upper limit, notshown, of the garment is reached.

It will be noted that, in the areas Mlltl and M11 which are betweenfashioning holes 30 and 32 and between fashioning marks, as well as inhorizontal area M-4 and in vertical :area M-9, the wales are notdistorted. In the areas outside rows 2 34, 42 and 52 on one side androws 26, 36, 44 and '54 on the other, the wales are curved, as generallyshown in FIG. 2 and in the model.

While I have given one example of the number of courses and of the orderof transfers which produce a satisfactory, average size breast receivingcup, such as that shown in the model, the number of courses and thewalewise distribution of the transfers and the number of the courses inwhich no transfer takes place can be altered to change the size and theshape of the resultant cup produced.

It will be noted that the number of courses and the order of transfersas shown in the drawings do not correspond to those recited in thedescription or to those shown in the model produced by the methoddescribed. In other words, the drawings are highly diagrammatic and areworking drawings. This is particularly true of FIG. 2 which attempts toreproduce the appearance of the finished cup, but which, due to thedifliculty of showing the very fine wales, is necessarily onlyapproxmate.

The non-widening transfer in areas M and M-1 produces a gradual rise orbulge which corresponds to the gradual rise of a body bulge, such as abreast relative to the torso, or a buttock relative to the surface ofthe thigh therebelow, while areas M-7 and M-8 serve to graduate thereverse slope from the maximum bulge toward its base. This makes itpossible to progress gradually from a substantially fiat base to, andfrom, the central portion of the bulge without wrinkles and, as will beseen from the model, areas M and M-1 and M7 and M-8 greatly enhance theappearance of the cup. It is well known that breasts and buttocks, varyas much in shape and orientation as they do in size. The pocket formedaccording to the Crawford patent provides room for the upper half of thebreast and room and support for only the portion of the breast below thehorizontal center line and to the outside of the vertical center line ofthe breast. This prevents the fabric between the vertical center linesof the breast cups and below the horizontal center line of the breastsfrom snugly hugging the inner lower portions of the breasts andspreading the wales and opening the stitches and applying pressureagainst and distorting the breasts from their natural rest position. Theabsence of symmetrical fashioning below the center line makes the cup ofCrawford unadaptable to the larger, generally finmer and more protrudingbuttock. Furthermore, areas M- i, M9, Mlil and M-ll coact to produce aroomy high bulge which receives the high portion of breast or buttock.

As fas as I am aware, no attempt has hereto-fore been made to fashionthe buttock area of a swim suit or similar garment with result that suitwas fashioned by the buttock instead of the suit supporting the buttock.For example, a rounded, high bulging, pushes the plain knit fabricoutwardly, thus drawing the leg openings upwardly to a point where, inthe interest of modesty and/or comfort, the wearer is compelled to pullthe leg openings down fruitlessly and. with annoying frequency. A lowhanging buttock pulls the Whole swim suit, especially the back panel,downwardly. In any case, this produces discomfort and in the case of aback-less swim suit, this can be embarrassing. A cup constructed asabove set forth provides room for a rounded, bulging buttock and affordsupward support for a sagging buttock, thus providing comfort andenhancing the appearance.

In addition to producing the desired bulge, the plain knit area M-dbetween lines 38 and 49 provides a buffer, or

stabilizing effect. In other words, it provides a base for thefashioning below and above it, the same as the plain knit areas belowline It and above line 60. In other words, if plain knit band M-4 isomitted, a knife edge instead of a well rounded contour will beproduced. This will form a wrinkle along the horizontal center lineinstead of the rounded effect shown in FIG. 3 and in the model.

Likewise, the vertical rows of holes 20 and 22 and vertical rows offashioning marks 56 and 58 and the straight wales in areas Nil-9therebetween serve to keep the areas to either side thereofsymmetrically rounded and they serve to delineate the center of the cupand accentuate its symmetry.

In the claims, the vertical axis is the line bisecting all of areas M-9from top to bottom and the horizontal axis is the line bisecting areaM-4 along its length.

I claim:

1. A knit garment having a generally rounded body bulge receiving cupwhich is symmetrical with reference to its vertical and horizontal axes,the lower half of said cup below said horizontal axis comprising abottom portion formed of a first central area of substantial height andwidth and disposed along, and on opposite sides of, said vertical axis,

the wales in said first central area being free of transfers anddisposed parallel to said vertical axis,

and first lateral areas of the same height as, and disposed on oppositesides of, said first central area and of substantial width, horizontallyconsidered,

all of the transfers in each of said first lateral areas originating inthe same wale and the wales in said first lateral areas divergingupwardly away from said vertical axis,

said lower half of said cup also including an upper portion formed of asecond central area which is, at least, in part, a continuation of saidfirst central area and the wales of which are parallel to said verticalaxis, 7 and second lateral areas which are continuations of said firstlateral areas and the wales of which also diverge upwardly from saidvertical axis, the transfers in each of said second lateral areasorigimating in outwardly successive wales and the wales in said secondareas converging downwardly towards said vertical axis,

said cup also having an upper half which is an inverse mirror image ofsaid lower half,

vertical and horizontal axes,

said cup also including a horizontal area of substantial width,vertically considered,

said horizontal area being disposed along, and on opposite side of saidhorizontal axis and joining said upper and lower halves of the cup,

the wales in said horizontal area being parallel to said vertical axisand being continuations of the wales in the upper and lower halves ofthe cup.

2. The cup defined in claim 1 in which said second central area of eachof the upper and lower halves of the cup is of a triangular shape, withthe base of the triangle wider than said first central area, and withapex of the triangle of the same width as, and registering with, saifirst central area.

3. A ladies garment having an integral body bulge receiving cup which issymmetrical with reference to its said cup including a vertical area ofsubstantial width and coextensive with said body bulge, vertically ,con-

sidered, the wales in said vertical area being parallel to, and disposedon opposite sides of, said vertical axis,

a horizontal area of substantial width, vertically considered, andcoextensive with the Width of said bulge, horizontally considered, saidhorizontal area being disposed on opposite sides of said horizontalaxis, and the wales thereof being parallel to'said vertical axis,

first upper and lower lateral areas on opposite sides of said verticalarea and on opposite sidesof said horizontal area, the stitches of saidlower lateral areas being transferred from outwardly successive waleswhereby the wales in said lower areas diverge upwardly from saidvertical axis and the stitches of said upper lateral areas beingtransferred from outwardly successive wales whereby the wales in saidupper areas diverge downwardly toward said vertical axis,

second lateral lower areas being disposed on opposite sides of saidvertical area and coextensive with the lower edges of said first lowerareas, the stitches in said second lower lateral areas being transferredoutwardly of said vertical axis from the same Wale whereby the wales insaid second lower areas diverge upwardly from said vertical axis, and

second, lateral upper areas being disposed on opposite sides of saidvertical area and coextensive with the upper edges of said first upperareas, the stitches in said second upper lateral areas being transferredinwardly from the same wale whereby the wales in said second upper areasdiverge downwardly from said 1 vertical axis.

4. The method of knitting a garment which includes a body bulgereceiving cup which is symmetrical with reference to its vertical andhorizontal axes, said method including beginning the transfers on theopposite side of said vertical axis in one wale which is parallel tosaid vertical axis and substantially equally spaced therefrom,continuing the knitting and, while so knitting, outwardly transferring asubstantially equal number of stitches in a second, relatively largenumber of courses on opposite sides of said vertical axis,

beginning successive transfers in said second number of courses in waleswhich are progressively iurther away from the opposite sides of said.vertical axes to produce an inner V-shaped fashioning mark formation and"an outer V-s'haped formation of fashioning points, the lirnbsof whichare spaced Efrem, and parallel to, the limbs of said inner V-shapedformation, knitting a horizontal area which is of substantial width,

vertically considered, and which is disposed on opposite sides of saidhorizontal axis and which extends across the adjacent edges of the areasenclosed by the limbs of said inner and outer V-shaped :Eormations, thewales in said horizontal area and in the area enclosed by said innerV-shaped formation being free of transfers and parallel to said verticalaxis, continuing the knitting, and, while so knitting, transderringstitches in the reverse order until the upper border of said cup isreached.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS GreatBritain of 1887

4. THE METHOD OF KNITTING A GARMENT WHICH INCLUDES A BODY BULGE RECEIVING CUP WHICH IS SYMMETRICAL WITH REFERENCE TO ITS VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL AXES, SAID METHOD INCLUDING KNITTING THE GARMENT FABRIC UNTIL THE LOWER BORDER OF SAID CUP IS REACHED, CONTINUING THE KNITTING AND WHILE SO KNITTING, OUTWARDLY TRANSFERRING A RELATIVELY LARGE NUMBER OF STITCHES IN EACH OF A FIRST, RELATIVELY LARGE NUMBER OF COURSES ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID VERTICAL AXIS, BEGINNING THE TRANSFERS IN ALL COURSES ON ONE SIDE OF SAID VERTICAL AXIS IN ONE WALE WHICH IS PARALLEL TO SAID VERTICAL AXIS AND WHICH IS SUBSTANTIALLY SPACED THEREFROM, BEGINNING THE TRANSFERS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID VERTICAL AXIS IN ONE WALE WHICH IS PARALLEL TO SAID VERTICAL AXIS AND SUBSTANTIALLY EQUALLY SPACED THEREFROM, CONTINUING THE KNITTING AND , WHILE SO KNITTING, OUTWARDLY TRANSFERRING A SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL NUMBER OF STITCHES IN A SECOND, RELATIVELY LARGE NUMBER OF COURSES ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID VERTICAL AXIS, BEGINNING SUCCESSIVE TRANSFERS IN SAID SECOND NUMBER OF COURSES IN WALES WHICH ARE PROGRESSIVELY FURTHER AWAY FROM THE OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID VERTICAL AXES TO PRODUCE AN INNER V-SHAPED FASHIONING MARK FORMATION AND AN OUTER V-SHAPED FORMATION OF FASHIONING POINTS, THE LIMBS OF WHICH ARE SPACED FROM, AND PARALLEL TO, THE LIMBS OF SAID INNER V-SHAPED FORMATION, KNITTING A HORIZONTAL AREA WHICH IS OF SUBSTANTIAL WIDTH, VERTICALLY CONSIDERED, AND WHICH IS DISPOSED ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID HORIZONTAL AXIS AND WHICH EXTENDS ACROSS THE ADJACENT EDGES OF THE AREAS ENCLOSED BY THE LIMBS OF SAID INNER AND OUTER V-SHAPED FORMATIONS, THE WALES IN SAID HORIZONTAL AREA AND IN THE AREA ENCLOSED BY SAID INNER V-SHAPED FORMATION BEING FREE OF TRANSFERS AND PARALLEL TO SAID VERTICAL AXIS, CONTINUING THE KNITTING, AND, WHILE SO KNITTING, TRANSFERRING STITCHES IN THE REVERSE ORDER UNTIL THE UPPER BORDER OF SAID CUP IS REACHED. 